Cole Porter

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Cole Porter

NARRATOR: This Indiana Bicentennial minute is made possible by the Indiana Historical Society and the law firm of Krieg DeVault.

Black and white photographs of a young Cole Porter is shown. Then images of Cole Porter sitting at a piano and writing lyrics on sheet music.

PAULEY: If ever anyone from Indiana made it big on Broadway, it was Cole Porter. Born in 1891 in Peru, by 10 he was composing music and writing lyrics. His wealthy grandfather wanted him to study law, but Cole wrote musicals at Yale and later dropped law at Harvard and moved to New York.

Black and white videos show New York in the 1920s.

PAULEY: He won acclaim for, “Let’s do it, let’s fall in love” in 1928. Followed with hit shows featuring, “Anything Goes,” “I Get a Kick Out of You,” and “You’re the Top.” Wrote, “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” and “In the Still of the Night,” for movies and “Kiss me Kate” won him a Tony in 1949.

“Kiss Me Kate” playbill is shown then black and white images of Cole Porter in his later years are shown with friends.

PAULEY: Cole Porter lived lavishly in Paris and Venice and died in 1964 in California. A Hoosier who’d seen the heights of show business fame. I’m Jane Pauley.

NARRATOR: This Indiana Bicentennial minute is made possible by the Indiana Historical Society and the law firm of Krieg DeVault.